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Lando Norris claims his chances of securing a repeat podium at the Imola GP are slim, given McLaren's form so far in 2022. He placed third in 2021's race, joining Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton on the podium.
The British team had a rough start to the 2022 season after failing to impress in the first two races of the year. They seem to have gained control of their problems at the Australian GP, where Norris and Daniel Ricciardo placed P5 and P6, respectively.
However, Norris is not too hopeful of appearing on the podium again this year, given his lack of wet-driving experience in the new cars. He said in a pre-practice press conference:
"Probably a little bit slimmer than this time last year but you never know. There's so many differences here and challenges for everyone: challenges for the engineers, how we set up the cars for the rain and maybe not so much for the rain."
He added:
"John has set up the car more for Saturday and Sunday when it might be drier and trying to find the compromises between that but also for us as drivers. Only a few people have driven in the wet conditions in Barcelona so… I wasn't one of them."
"So it's going to be a little bit harder for the people who didn't, in such a short period of time, to get up to speed and find the limits in these cars with these tires we have this year."
Lando Norris had a great qualifying session at the 2022 Imola GP
Despite his pessimism before Friday's session, Lando Norris ended the qualifying session for Saturday's sprint race in P3.
The Briton claimed that the weather played a significant role in the impressive result for the team. Both McLarens made it to Q1 for the second time this season.
Norris was positively surprised with his P3 finish and now stands a chance of scoring good points in both upcoming races. He said:
“Yeah, I mean, of course I’m happy, I’m top three which is quite a surprise for us. There was a lot left in the lap and I was trying to get the tyres to temperature but I just pushed too hard on the outlap. A shame because there was a chance at least to maybe have a go at Charles [Leclerc]."
"It’s difficult to say because I’m sure everyone can say they improve but there were possibilities for us to go forward even more because the car is feeling good and I was feeling confident so it’s a shame it ended like that but a good position for tomorrow. I’m happy.”
Lando Norris is hopeful of bringing home some solid points for the Woking-based team tomorrow. He will be battling at the front of the grid with Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc.
